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Safeguarding

Safeguarding at Sir Jim's

Sir James Smith’s Community School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. Safeguarding is everyone's responsibility.

No one wants to hear about children being abused, neglected or unsafe. We all need to know what to do if there are concerns about the safety of any child or vulnerable young person. Remember these three important messages:

All children have a right to be safe no matter who they are or what their circumstances.

Keeping children safe is everyone's responsibility.

We all need to listen to children even though we may not always be comfortable with what we hear.

Who should I talk to if I have concerns about a child?

It doesn’t matter if you are a paid worker, a volunteer or a member of the community, you have a responsibility to act if you are worried about a child.

That telephone call or email might be the most important one you will ever make!

Each agency will have someone who has a responsibility for child protection and safeguarding issues - they have had training to know what to do next.

It is not your responsibility to investigate safeguarding concerns but you must tell the appropriate person. It will be this person’s job to decide what action to take next. If necessary they will speak to Children’s Social Care or the police. The police and social workers can then decide whether they need to investigate your concerns.

Sir Jim’s is an Operation Encompass school. This means we work with the police when they have been called to domestic incidents where children are present. The police will contact the school within 24 hours of an incident happening. School staff will follow up all Operation Encompass referrals. We advise parents/carers where incidents have occurred to get in contact with school so we can work together to best support any child involved.

Operation Encompass key staff are:

Mr Lawrence, Headteacher

Mrs Rundle, Pastoral Support and Well-being Manager

Mrs Adams, Pastoral Support and Well-being

Prevent @ Sir Jim’s

Protecting children from the risk of radicalisation and extremism should be seen as part of schools’ and childcare providers’ wider safeguarding duties, and is similar in nature to protecting children from other harms (e.g. drugs, gangs, neglect, sexual exploitation), whether these come from within their family or are the product of outside influences.

The statutory guidance makes clear the need for schools to ensure that children are safe from terrorist and extremist material when accessing the internet in schools. Schools should ensure that suitable filtering is in place. This is part of our e-safety strategy.

Extremism includes extreme right-wing and left-wing organisations and any other group that intentionally promotes the use of violence.

If you have any concerns over inappropriate content being accessed by children please contact the school immediately. You can also contact your local police force or dial 101 (the non-emergency number). They can talk to you in confidence about your concerns and help you gain access to support and advice.

The Department for Education has dedicated a telephone helpline (020 7340 7264) to enable those with concerns about extremism to contact them directly. Concerns can also be raised by email to counter.extremism@education.gsi.gov.uk

Child Sexual Exploitation

Sir Jim’s is committed to safeguarding. One of the things we need to do if we are to look after our students and keep them safe is to provide information and guidance to young people themselves and their parents/carers. This information is about one aspect of safeguarding, Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE).

One of the most disturbing developments recently was Professor Jay’s report into the sexual exploitation of children in Rotherham. Cases in Rotherham, Rochdale, Derby, Oxford and other towns and cities across the country have uncovered the previously hidden scale of the problem. It would be naïve to believe those things couldn’t happen in Cornwall – the facts show the sexual exploitation of children can take place anywhere.

Local authorities and schools are now successfully using a range of innovative and creative campaigns to raise awareness amongst all young people and protect those young people at risk of sexual exploitation.

At Sir Jim’s, assembly time has been used to raise awareness amongst all our students.